Another SpaceX rocket will attempt to land in the ocean later this month

December's success inspires new attempt

After two failed attempts at landing on an ocean barge, SpaceX has scheduled another attempt to land its rocket on a floating platform at sea on January 17th.

December 21, 2015 saw Elon Musk's SpaceX become the first spaceflight company to successfully launch and vertically land its Falcon 9 rocket back on Earth.

Landing on a floating barge has proven to be more complicated, with another two previous attempts earlier in 2015 failing, with an attempt in June seeing the rocket land, but then it tipped over and exploded.

The ability to safely land on a floating barge at sea is an important step for SpaceX and the company's hopes to build a reusable space rocket with the ability to land wherever it is safest and requires the least amount of fuel.

This time, the upcoming launch take off from the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, according to NBCNews.

SpaceX will be sending up NASA's Jason-3 ocean-monitoring satellite into orbit with it's rocket before returning back to Earth to attempt to land a drone ship located in the Pacific Ocean.

SpaceX also won't be using the same Falcon 9 rocket it used for the December 2015 launch and landing however, as Musk has plans to put it on display instead.